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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25872154">and the peaceful days, they will return</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrecho/pseuds/Lyre'>Lyre (Lyrecho)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Tales of the Abyss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(should be), Canon Compliant, Gen, Oneshot, Post-Akzeriuth Though, Some Mild Angst???, Vague Handwaves At When This Happens In Game, just two friends chilling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 08:41:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,223</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25872154</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrecho/pseuds/Lyre</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>a moment of quiet between two friends; a respite in the ongoing storm</p>
<p> <a href="http://isle3cho.tumblr.com">|Tumblr|</a></p>
<p> <a href="http://twitter.com/PASSlONLlP">|Twitter|</a></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Luke fon Fabre &amp; Fon Master Ion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>and the peaceful days, they will return</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>it's been forever since i've written abyss fic so APOLOGIES if my luke voice is rusty ahhhhhhh</p>
<p>i asked for prompts on my tweeter for short stuff i wouldn't accidentally turn into a novel and my friends delivered, this is for u rar</p>
<p>completely un-beta'd</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>There aren’t a lot of quiet days, anymore.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In the manor, quiet days were just about all Luke had ever known -- every day was predictable, the monotony only broken up by Master Van’s visits, and even those were never truly a </span>
  <em>
    <span>surprise;</span>
  </em>
  <span> even if Luke didn’t know when he was coming, he always knew that at </span>
  <em>
    <span>some</span>
  </em>
  <span> point, he’d be there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d been eager for those quiet days of nothing to end. Now, he thinks, he misses them, considering how few of them he encounters now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Today, though...today is a quiet day. Everyone else is running around -- picking up supplies, or doing whatever tasks Jade had assigned them -- and Luke is just sitting, staring up at the sky, trying to appreciate the peace that finds him so rarely these days. He’s not alone: Ion is with him, looking wan and exhausted; there’s a part of him that wonders if Jade told him to stay behind because he thought Ion needed watching, or because he thought </span>
  <em>
    <span>Luke</span>
  </em>
  <span> needed watching.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s probably the latter. He tries not to be annoyed about that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ion must be able to tell Luke is looking at him, because he turns to meet Luke’s eyes. There’s a question in his own. “Luke? Are you okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luke reaches up to run a hand through his hair -- it’s muscle memory, from when his hair was longer, and when his fingers falter, finding nothing but air, he grips the back of his neck instead. “I’m fine,” he says, because he is, because </span>
  <em>
    <span>melancholy</span>
  </em>
  <span> isn’t exactly a wound or an illness, “what about you? You look…” He trails off, because he doesn’t really know a polite way to say </span>
  <em>
    <span>terrible</span>
  </em>
  <span> or </span>
  <em>
    <span>possibly contagious,</span>
  </em>
  <span> and while he normally wouldn’t worry too much about annoying one of his friends with the truth, Ion is different. Almost more than anyone else, Luke wants to protect him. “...Tired,” he finally settles on. “I’m kind of surprised Jade managed to convince Anise to detach from you, actually.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ion laughs, and to Luke’s alarm, there’s a rasp to the undertone of it that makes it sound more like a cough. Maybe he’s imagining it, though, because Ion keeps talking like he can’t feel how raw his voice makes his throat sound. “She just trusts you to keep me safe, I suppose,” Ion says, like it’s easy, and his smile is bright and genuine, like he believes in those words too. “And you’re a Seventh Fonist -- you’ve been learning healing artes from Natalia, haven’t you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luke stammers, a bit, because he hadn’t realised anyone had known about those lessons but Natalia and himself -- and Jade, because Jade knew everything, somehow -- and tries to compose himself. When he finally finds his words again, his cheeks are still red, he just knows it. “I have been,” he says, slightly wary, “but I’m not all that good at it, yet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ion waves off his worries. “I know we haven’t known each other very long,” he says, “but for as long as I’ve known you, Luke, you’ve been nothing but a fast learner. Look how much your fighting has improved in such a short time! Once you set your mind to something, there is no way you won’t accomplish it, and that’s true for healing artes, as well as anything else.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Warmth suffuses through Luke, and he has to duck his head and look away from Ion’s gaze before he starts crying, because that would be embarrassing. Still, he has to lift a hand to swipe under his eyes just once. If Ion notices the movement, or spots the damp spots on his sleeves, he doesn’t mention it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s nice, he thinks, to talk with Ion like this. His belief is quiet and subtle, but all the more stronger for it, at least to Luke -- Guy’s belief in Luke is loud, and aggressive, as Guy steps in front of Luke, back tense, arms shaking in anger, as he yells </span>
  <em>
    <span>I know Luke</span>
  </em>
  <span> and </span>
  <em>
    <span>you want to say that again?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Tear’s is quiet, too, but in a different way -- her hand slipping in his and gripping tight, her arms around him in a tight hug on nights where he wakes up choking down screams that have everyone else waking up with him, her voice telling him </span>
  <em>
    <span>you’re okay</span>
  </em>
  <span> and </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m here</span>
  </em>
  <span> through her songs until he calms. Jade’s belief in him is the most obvious of all them, as startling as it is, for one simple reason -- if Jade did not believe in Luke, Luke would just no longer be travelling with them. It’s as easy as that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Ion’s belief...is something innocent, and intrinsic. Luke hadn’t even realised it up until this moment, but he doesn’t really think Ion has ever come up to him and said </span>
  <em>
    <span>I believe in you,</span>
  </em>
  <span> directly or indirectly. His support wasn’t just quiet. It was </span>
  <em>
    <span>silent,</span>
  </em>
  <span> like he’d believed all along that of </span>
  <em>
    <span>course</span>
  </em>
  <span> Luke could do it, like Luke didn’t need to have his capabilities questioned or be reminded that he was, in fact, capable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s different, to the faith of the others, in that Luke wonders, sometimes, if the reasons his friends so frequently tell him </span>
  <em>
    <span>we believe in you</span>
  </em>
  <span> is because they actually don’t, but are trying to lie to themselves anyway. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you, Ion,” Luke says softly. “It means a lot, to hear you say that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ion grins, mischief and satisfaction shining in his eyes and lighting up his entire face, and for a moment he doesn’t look sick or tired at all. “It means a lot that you actually listened to me,” he says lightly, and Luke isn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> bad, is he? “No need to thank me,” Ion continues, “but you’re welcome, nonetheless.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luke blinks at him. “No need?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mm, no need,” Ion agrees, and shuffles a bit closer to Luke, leaning into his side once they’re pressed together, and laying his head down on Luke’s shoulder. “After all, we’re friends. We’re bonding. Do you thank Guy every time he has a conversation with you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luke can’t help the bark of laughter. “No,” he admits. “I’m sorry, that was silly of me to ask. You’re right.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ion’s smile widens. “You don’t need to apologise, either --” he cuts himself off with a faint, giggle-choked yelp as Luke rolls his eyes and throws a gentle, good-natured elbow into his friend’s ribs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You,” he says. “Be quiet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ion’s giggles slowly fade out as they sit together, waiting for the others to return.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s been forever since Luke had a quiet day. After Akzeriuth, there was a time when he’d thought his quiet days were gone for good -- and that he’d deserved that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Those quiet days are still few and far between, always short, with Luke always feeling undeserving in some way, like the peace he finds in them is something that he’s stolen --</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>-- but Ion, inevitably, always brings one with him. Like a beacon in a storm. Like a shelter. There are no expectations when it comes to Ion. No disappointments, just a desire to not let his friend down. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With Ion, there’s just an easy, quiet peace. A friendship with far less of the weight his other bonds tend to carry.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And so, for just a moment, his friend tucked in at his side close and warm, Luke lets himself relax into the silence.</span>
</p>
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